Having missed out on both Black and Roseate Terns on Thursday evening along the Angus coast, I decided to get up early on Saturday morning and head out early to try again. My plan was to catch the high tide at Westhaven and hopefully the Roseate Terns then to head north later to Lunan Bay, in the hope that the Black Terns were spending the times outwith high tide there with the main tern roost. Jacqui was also keen to make an early start to try for Roseates so we arranged for Jacqui to pick me up at 0700, meaning that I would get there earlier than using public transport, which would hopefully increase our chances of finding the birds.
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| Roseate Tern |
A quick look out the window at 0600 gave me Starling, Feral Pigeon, Blackbird and Woodpigeon. Then when I headed out to meet Jacqui just before 0700 I added Collared Dove and Swift to the list. Heading out the Arbroath Road we added Oystercatcher and House Martin. House Sparrows were seen as we arrived at Westhaven. From the car park we were able tos ee that there were a number of terns around on the rocks as well as a few Black Headed Gulls, Common Gulls and Redshanks as well as a few sleeping Eider. Scanning from the beach we added Dunlin and Turnstone. Common, Arctic and Sandwich Terns were plentiful and a Curlew and Oystercatcher were found among them.
A Pied Wagtail was on the beach feeding among the seaweed and a Tree Pipit following the line of the beach called as it headed west. I eventually found a very white looking adult tern and careful viewing through Jacqui's scope confirmed that it was indeed a
Roseate Tern. The black and red bill and the rings on both legs were big pointers. A juvenile Tern beside it looked good for a juvenile Roseate and a spot of begging for food from the adult confirmed that we had 2 of the birds. There were a few other sightings of adult birds in flight with the very distinctive call drawing attention to them, and allowing me to get photos. A flock of Goosander swam past the rocks and out over the sea we spotted Gannets, Great Black Backed Gulls and Cormorant.
As Jacqui had things to do at home she headed for home, finding a dead Shrew on the path on her way back to the car, and me finding single Painted Lady and Red Admiral butterflies before she left. I wandered along towards the Craigmill Burn outflow but a dog walker was throsing sticks for his dog in the area so birds were largely absent. I added Ringed Plover and Grey Heron on the walk out as well as a number of Mallard, a few flypast Swallows and Sand Martins, and a Greenshank, Bar Tailed Godwit and a few Rooks. A flock of Lapwings circled overhead as I headed up to Craigmill Den.
Crossing the bridge I spooked the Kingfisher which flew downstream away from me. A Buzzard hunted over the fields to the west. On the wires were a few Yellowhammers and Linnets. Great Tit and Blue Tits were in the trees and a Willow Warbler showed nicely near the top end of the Den. Stock Dove, Large White butterflies and a Rabbit were all noted as I walked back to Westhaven to catch the bus out to Arbroath. Swifts flew low over the road as I walked down the eastern edge of the town.
At Arbroath I headed first for the area just west of the cinema which is the best place to try for Mediterranean Gull. There was a small mixed flock of Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Saerling feeding along the water's edge. Rotting seaweed littered the beach. There were decent numbers of Black Headed Gulls on the beach as well as a few Herring Gulls offshore. Lesser Black Backed Gulls were loitering by the kid's play area. I eventually spotted an adult Mediterranean Gull among the Black Headeds, the black of the head and orange-red bill rather obvious among the slightly smaller Black Headeds.
I made it to the bus station in time to catch the X7 to Inverkeillor so I could walk to Lunan Bay. Tree Sparrows were added on the walk out along with House Martins, Swallows and Blue Tits. Things were generally rather quiet though. Around 40 minutes later I arrived at the houses on the south side of the river mouth to find it had changed a lot since my last visit. There was now a field of goats where it was previously possible to walk to the ADBC hide. I walked down to the beach instead. A Peacock butterfly and a moth (Udea Lutealiis) shared a large sunflower. A Small Tortoisehell was neraby.
At the beach I could see terns and gulls a few 100 metres away by the water's edge. Noticing movement among the partially stony ground I stopped to spy a Ringed Plover which tried to decoy me away. I soon saw why, witha couple of chicks running off along the sand. I moved up into the dunes a little. The group of 4 with a dog off the lead walked right through the area where the birds were compeltely oblivious (thankfully also including the dog). I scanned through the flock of birds on the beach. Kittiwakes and the tern species mingled with a few more gulls. Sanderling ran along the shoreline. There was no sign of any Black Terns though..
A couple of walkers coming back along the beach spooked the whole flock which moved along the beach before dropping down again onto the sand. As they did I spotted 2 birds looking darker and with more distinctive underwing patterns just as they were about to land. I had my
Black Terns. I also found an adult Little Gull hidden in the flock. I took a few more photos then decided to head back to Inverkeillor to catch the bus to Ferryden. A wader flying over caught my eye and from the grabbed photos I added Golden Plover to the list for the day. The bus to Ferryden was slightly late and by now my legs were starting to ache. I'd seen most of the birds I was likely to see from either the visitor centre or from Scurdie Ness lighthouse so I chose to have a quick look at the Basin then to catch the bus for home.
Mute Swan, Red Breasted Merganser and Osprey were all added along with Grey Seals before I headed back to the bus shelter which was harbouring a selection of hoverflies from the ongoing influx from the continent. The bus was running late and was thankfully a lot less busy than the one I'd caught to Inverkeillor earlier in the day. I made it home around 1545 or so having seen 57 species of bird, including 2 year-ticks (in bold), 2 of mammals (& 1 casualty), 5 butterflies and a moth species.
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Common Tern & Arctic Tern |
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| Roseate Tern & Arctic Tern |
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| Roseate Tern |
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| Cormorant |
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| Roseate Tern |
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| Roseate Tern |
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| Arctic Tern & Roseate Tern |
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| Arctic Tern & Roseate Tern |
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| Roseate Tern |
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| Roseate Tern |
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| Roseate Tern, Arctic Tern & Common Tern |
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| Roseate Tern |
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| Roseate Tern & Common Tern & Arctic Tern |
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| Roseate Tern, Common Tern & Arctic Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Dunlin |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Mallard |
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| Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Lapwing |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Dunlin |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Linnet |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Buzzard |
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| Starling |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Sanderling, Dunlin & Ringed Plover |
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| Sanderling, Dunlin, Ringed Plover & Black Headed Gull |
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| Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Oystercatcher & Black Headed Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull & Herring Gull |
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| Mediterranean Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Mediterranean Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Mediterranean Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Cormorant |
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| House Martin |
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| Swallow |
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| Udea lutealis (moth) & Episyrphus balteatus (hoverfly) |
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| Peacock |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Kittiwake, Arctic Tern, Common Tern & Sandwich Tern |
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| Kittiwake & Little Gull |
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| Black Tern & Common Tern |
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| Black Tern, Common Tern & Sandwich Tern |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Osprey & Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Mute Swan |
Species seen - Arctic Tern, Bar Tailed Godwit,
Black Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Gannet, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Kingfisher, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Gull, Mallard, Mediterranean Gull, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Feral Pigeon, Rook,
Roseate Tern, Sand Martin, Sanderling, Sandwich Tern, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Tree Pipit, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
Butterfly species seen - Large White, Painted Lady, Peacock, Red Admiral, Samll Tortoiseshell.
Mammals seen - Grey Seal, Rabbit.
Moth seen - Udea Lutealis.
